New car - How many miles is too many?

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Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Check local and State laws about how many miles can be on a car and still be considered new.


+1 In some states that might be considered a used car. Either way big discount time, or if you can wait have them order a car for you and take it right off the truck.
 
Probably a dealer trade. If the price is right, don't hassle it. BTW, my new car (I bought this month) had 296 miles on it. The dealer lost $1360 on the deal. I thought that was a pretty good discount.
 
most likely the car was test-driven for a 24hr period--- like when they let you borrow it overnight hoping you'll buy it the next day. coworker just put 150 miles on a subaru she was coerced to "try it for a day" by the dealer tho she said she was not going to purchase anything for another 4 weeks.
 
The car is new, the warranty start mileage wiil be the mileage on the odometer. 36421 miles instead of 36000. It is common practice to drive dealer transfer cars from one dealer to another. If its really what you want by it. The break in happens within the first few starts. The only thing to seat in the engine is the rings and they seat quickly. The trans is actually a self shifting manual. If you saw how the car carriers drive the cars on and off of the truck you chould be thankful somebody drove it from the other dealer.
 
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: bigjl
Looks like they had it delivered between dealers using a driver rather than a flat truck with a bed.

I would not be happy with that and would want a different car or a discount.

I bought a truck that was traded from another dealer, and driven to my dealer. It had 250 miles. Nothing was wrong with it.


You can't know how it was driven by the delivery driver.

It is more likely to have been driven hard than easy.

I have seen brand new vehicles delivered to my previous job that were rattling and banging within hundred miles of delivery as the first few to use it drove the nuts off it as it was not theirs and it is a new toy as far as they were concerned.

Just because you weren't bothered about it doesn't mean others aren't.

If the car was in group stock and needed to be moved a long distance, actually any distance over four or five miles to be honest the. I would request it gets low loaded as part of the sale.

No low loader, no deal, people who are happy to be taken advantage of are the ones the let the garages think they can get away with these stunts.

Using a drivers save them money. It is no more complicated than that.

Would you eat a Snickers bar that somebody had licked?

I don't see a car purchase as much different if I wanted an ex demo car I would buy one and save money.

But if it pay the new car premium then yes, I want it hermetically sealed and covered in bubble wrap thanks.
 
I hate buying cars that have more than a few miles. The only time I ever did was a Tahoe that was the one we wanted at the dealer we liked and I got a great deal on it. It had about 500 miles on it.

To pay many thousands and not be the first person other than delivery people is not cool unless there is a bif money savings.
 
It could have been driven in from another state for a potential sale that never took place. My current new car had 400+ miles on it but it was located in another state and driven over.
 
Seems like too many to me. The first 200 miles or so are the most important of a car's life: no telling how this car was treated.

If you're serious about a new Focus, spend a little time on Focusfanatics.com first. Ford is still struggling with the dual-clutch transmission and MyFordTouch, though they're great cars otherwise.
 
Originally Posted By: Roadkingnc
The car is new, the warranty start mileage wiil be the mileage on the odometer. 36421 miles instead of 36000. It is common practice to drive dealer transfer cars from one dealer to another. If its really what you want by it. The break in happens within the first few starts. The only thing to seat in the engine is the rings and they seat quickly. The trans is actually a self shifting manual. If you saw how the car carriers drive the cars on and off of the truck you chould be thankful somebody drove it from the other dealer.


If all this need for "break in" were critical why would they dyno each and every car? Not to mention as you did - the car carrier guys abuse them as they need to get them in/out quick to make $$. Cars are "abused" from the moment the key is turned the first time at the factory.

Although I will say every warranty I've seen starts from 0 miles, not the miles on the car at delivery.
 
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When we pulled cars off the transport, they usually had between 7-9 miles on the odometer. As part of the MPDI, we test drove them (usually) about a mile to ck for NVH etc. Very rare to have a vehicle with more than 15 miles on the odo sold as "new".

Now, certain vehicles had an additional 15 miles on the odo. They were QC test drives from the factory that were pulled from the line and tested. They had a sticker/tag that explained that fact. It was left in the car so the buyer could see that.

Dealer trades- happened all the time. Not every trade is done on a transporter. When 4X4 Navigators hit the streets, we sold out immediately, even at $10K over list. Our makeready department and porters got recruited to drive in Navigators from almost the whole state of TX and parts of Louisiana, and a few from Oklahoma. We had lots of them with over 300 miles on them when picked up.
 
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Discount time. Mine had 12kms on it and wondered how many times it was tested around the block by rough clients seeing what my little 1.5L could do lol.

Could be a lemon that someone brought back??

Don't buy it. That is almost 700 kms.
 
Originally Posted By: Roadkingnc
The car is new, the warranty start mileage wiil be the mileage on the odometer. 36421 miles instead of 36000.


This is absolutely not the case.
 
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Originally Posted By: Roadkingnc
The car is new, the warranty start mileage wiil be the mileage on the odometer. 36421 miles instead of 36000.


This is absolutely not the case.


I thought that was the case.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
I've seen WAY to many new cars getting beat on by dealership employees going to lunch, etc. to pay full price on anything with more than 10 miles on it!


I've seen this also, but this can happen within 0-10miles too.

Like said above, if this vehicle had been transported from one city to another, the Transporters are generally Seniors. AM radio crackling away, car never exceeding the speed limit. I've seen (and blown around) caravans of them on highways.

IMO, the problem with the OPs concern is; It sounds like the dealer personnel he dealt with have no idea where the miles came from on this Focus, nor do they care enough to find out. I'd question their credibility completely at this point and move on unless there was some substantial discount on this one.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: Roadkingnc
The car is new, the warranty start mileage wiil be the mileage on the odometer. 36421 miles instead of 36000. It is common practice to drive dealer transfer cars from one dealer to another. If its really what you want by it. The break in happens within the first few starts. The only thing to seat in the engine is the rings and they seat quickly. The trans is actually a self shifting manual. If you saw how the car carriers drive the cars on and off of the truck you chould be thankful somebody drove it from the other dealer.


If all this need for "break in" were critical why would they dyno each and every car? Not to mention as you did - the car carrier guys abuse them as they need to get them in/out quick to make $$. Cars are "abused" from the moment the key is turned the first time at the factory.

Although I will say every warranty I've seen starts from 0 miles, not the miles on the car at delivery.


First, I doubt every engine is "dynoed". Unless it's a Porsche or similar, I suspect the first time an engine runs is as it is driven off the production line. If an engine was "dynoed", presumably it would be done according to a protocol that helped rather than hurt the break-in process.

Of course it's not possible to get a car with 0 miles, but the lower the better IMO.
 
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